Stags lose big lead, game to Siena

Mark Singelais

Updated 12:10 am, Tuesday, February 11, 2014

ALBANY, N.Y. -- The Fairfield men's basketball team built a 16-point lead on Monday night and got a career night from junior guard Steve Johnston, a former walk-on from Stamford, Conn.

That still wasn't enough as Fairfield's hopes for its first two-game winning streak of the season evaporated in a 77-75 loss to Siena before 5,536 fans at Times Union Center.

"We continue to be young,'' Stags coach Sydney Johnson said. "It's something that we're trying to overcome. It really shows up late down the stretch and sometimes we've persevered and have a few wins to show for it. Other times it shows we need to mature and grow up a bit."

"Well, we committed 28 fouls,'' Johnson said. "Twenty-eight fouls is probably more than what I saw out there. So we had key guys on the bench and three guys foul out of the game. We're not the league favorite. If we have guys that we rely on out of the game for extended periods of time, you're not going to hold a 15-point lead on the road."

Fairfield built its largest lead at 33-17 on a Johnston 3-pointer with 8:17 to play in the first half.

He finished with a career-high 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting, including four 3-pointers.

"His focus and commitment have been outstanding,'' Johnson said. "He's in a position we didn't expect him to be in. He's played his way past some guys and it's given us some production there at the scoring guard spot, which is something we desperately need."

Fairfield's lead shriveled to 37-36 by halftime.

Johnston hit another 3-pointer to put Fairfield up 73-69 with 3:25 to play.

Maurice Barrow (18 points) gave Fairfield a 75-71 lead on a layup with 2:05 left, but the Stags didn't score again.